Leadership and Management Success Tips

Leadership and management success tips can give women the edge to break through that glass ceiling without being cut to ribbons in the process. Although women have made enormous strides in America, most of the business world is still an old-boys network where men run the show. We are enjoying more positions of power than ever before, but they tend to be stuck in a holding pattern at the middle-management level, while the vast majority of top-management jobs exist in the exclusive domain of men. In an atmosphere where we must constantly prove that we are as good as our male counterparts, one crucial criterion is leadership and management success. Tips for achieving that success can make a big difference in overall job performance, so if you are a woman who wants to lead others, learn to L-E-A-D the way to your career success.

L: Lead by Example

Think back to your childhood days. When an adult sent you to bed at eight o’clock and then hurriedly returned to the lively party in the living room, how did you feel? Despite their age and experience, working adults are often susceptible to the same emotional responses that shaped their earlier lives. Most of us may not like to admit to this, but anyone who has been privy to a gripe session in the employee lunchroom knows that feelings such as resentment, anger, and frustration are part of every work environment. Leadership and management success tips can’t help you if you sabotage yourself by pushing the wrong emotional buttons and activating a reaction that will not serve your career well.

This does not mean that you should act as if you were in the same position as any other employees.

As a leader, you enjoy certain perks, because along with those fringe benefits comes the flip side of the coin—the responsibility you must personally assume when things go wrong. You should let common sense rule your actions, rather than a misguided feeling of entitlement that will alienate you from others. Rank has its privilege and everyone knows this, but knowing something is quite different from having your face constantly rubbed in it. It’s hard to get people with an impossible deadline to work through their lunches when you disappear for two hours every afternoon. It’s also unwise to use five hundred dollars of the company’s money to buy yourself a luxury desk chair immediately after you’ve turned down a request for long-overdue raise with the excuse that the budget is too tight.

Avoid this self-defeating behavior by remembering that every one of us has strong emotions that greatly influence our behavior. Make sure that you appeal to the most positive of these sentiments by doing your own job in a manner that sets an excellent example for everyone else. Adopt the same work attitude that you demand from your subordinates. It’s much harder for an employee to goof off at work when the boss is hard-working.

E: Earn Respect Instead of Demanding ItNothing undermines a leader’s authority quite like a general lack of respect from people at the workplace. Although you can mandate someone’s behavior, it’s not as easy to control thoughts and feelings.

As a leader or manager, you can demand certain considerations, but if the sentiment is not genuine, these behaviors will not convince anyone that you are someone worth following. Lack of respect is an easy thing to spot, and workers notice these signals. One person’s negative perception of your leadership and management success, tips the scale in someone else’s favor.

This holds true for all employees—from minimum-wage workers to the presidents of multi-national corporations—as well as for clients, vendors, and anyone who is directly or indirectly involved in your business. Never assume that someone isn’t worth winning over, because circumstances have a way of being utterly unpredictable. Today’s sales trainee may be tomorrow’s new regional manger, and the company’s caterer may be the boss’s uncle. It’s a competitive world out there, so get as much support as you can from others by earning their respect.

The best way to get this respect for yourself is to give it to others first. Whatever you do reflects back onto you, so make sure that your mirror image is a favorable one. Treat everyone with professional courtesy and consideration, even those you do not happen to like very much. You have to work with these folks every day, and burning important bridges can make your work life miserable and your career future questionable.

A: Adapt to ChangesThe modern world is defined by continual change, and this is especially true of the world of work. Technology changes the way we perform our work, as well as the very nature of work itself.

Computer disk operating systems give way to Windows environments, letter mail loses out to e-mail, and face-to-face sales work becomes Internet marketing. We can never be certain that the skills we master today won’t be obsolete tomorrow, next month, or next year.

In the face of all this unpredictability, the only thing that never becomes obsolete is the ability to adapt. If you remain flexible, you can stay in the game even when the rules drastically change. Within the most stagnant employment settings, there can never be absolute stability if human beings are involved in any way. We are amazingly complex creatures capable of many things, but universally guaranteed predictability is not one of them. Any psychologist or market researcher will tell you that we all act in predictable ways and many businesses depend on this consistency to survive, but there is always an exception. The fact that 99% of folks behave a certain way will not help you if one of your employees happens to belong to that 1% minority.

Use this unpredictability to your advantage. T o succeed as a leader or manager, you must prove that you are worth more to your employer than other candidates are. Respond to unexpected changes by finding innovative ways to adjust to the new situation, and your ability to prevail in uncertain times will be noticed.

D: Delegate Wisely

As a leader or manager, you are ultimately the one who must take credit or blame for the performance of your employees.

If your fledglings do not soar triumphantly on their first solo flight but instead plummet unceremoniously to the hard and unforgiving ground, you as the mother bird have not done your job well. You must then pick them up, dust them off, and teach them to fly all over again—until they get it right.

Crash landings can have extreme consequences, so ensure that your employees completely understand what is expected of them. If you take the time to train people well, you can delegate more of your work and focus on other tasks that need attention. Once an employee has demonstrated the ability to work independently, avoid the temptation to micromanage. This strategy causes the kind of frustration that leads to employee apathy, which is the kiss of death for any leader. Remember these leadership and management success tips to L-E-A-D the way to your career destination.

How Assertive are You?Are you assertive, aggressive, or a victim? Or does your behavior depend on the circumstance? To find out how you’re most likely to react in certain situations, take this assertiveness quiz now.